Category: Entertainment

If you want to share Disney+, you need to pay for extra member slots now

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Disney announced the rollout of extra member slots option in many regions today. The company follows Netflix’s example, which cracked down on password sharing and introduced extra member slots some time ago.

Good to know: Extra member slots allow subscribers to gift a membership to a non-household viewer.

The details:

  • Subscribers may add one extra member slot to their account.
  • This costs $6.99 (Standard) or $9.99 (Premium) per month in the US.
  • Price varies from region to region.

Disney is also starting to crack down on password sharing. Like Netflix, Disney is starting to block access to its service, if it notices access from a different location.

Viewers may see “This TV doesn’t seem to be part of the Household for this account”. Subscribers do have the option to select “I’m away from home” or “Update household”.

The first option may be used while away from home for a limited period, the second if a subscriber moved permanently to a new location.

Either option requires a one-time passcode that is sent to the email address associated with the account holder.

Also of interest: How to cope with a changing streaming landscape that is pushing ads and higher prices.

It is interesting to note that an extra slot for Disney+ Premium is more expensive than an extra slot for Netflix Premium. Netflix charges $7.99 in the US for that, Disney $9.99 per month.

It is interesting to note that an extra Basic member costs $6.99 in the US, which is just $1 less than the plan itself.

The core difference between Basic and Premium is that Basic comes with ads and lack of Dolby Atmos audio support. Downloads are also not permitted.

Extra members have other limitations:

  • One stream only at a time.
  • One profile only.
  • Access to the same features and content as the account holder.

Closing Words

Sharing Disney+ passwords will come to an end largely in the coming weeks and months. Just like Netflix, Disney is pushing extra viewers off the service. Apart from stopping to watch Disney+, there are only two feasible (legal) options left:

  • Buy an extra member slot, which nearly costs as much as a regular subscription.
  • Subscribe to Disney+ directly.

It remains to be seen if Disney will see a drop and then an increase in subscribers after its password crackdown hammers down on subscribers in full force.

Are you subscribed to any streaming service? If so, to which and why? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Invidious blocked

You can’t use Invidious anymore to watch YouTube videos

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

All publicly hosted Invidious instances are blocked from playing YouTube videos. When you try the third-party solution right now, you receive error messages with no option to bypass it.

Note: this may impact other YouTube frontends as well.

Good to know: Invidious is an open source solution to play YouTube videos on publicly or self-hosted servers. All videos played come without ads or tracking, which is the main reason for users to use the service.

A message on the official repository of the service confirms that Google has shut down the latest workaround that it still had to play YouTube videos on Invidious instances.

Sad news for everyone. YouTube/Google has patched the latest workaround that we had in order to restore the video playback functionality.

Right now we have no other solutions/fixes. You may be able to get Invidious working on residential IP addresses (like at home) but on datacenter IP addresses Invidious won’t work anymore.

The development team is not giving up, but admits that it might take months before another workaround is found.

Users may be able to use self-hosted instances to bypass the block according to the announcement, but there is no guarantee that this is going to work in all cases.

Invididious users who want to give it a try can check out instructions here. Note that this requires a fairly good understanding of the used technologies.

This is not the first time that YouTube managed to break Invidious. The main issue now is that the makers have no workaround anymore to bypass YouTube’s blockage.

While there is a chance that they find another workaround, it looks as if Google has won the cat and mouse game for now.

Have you used Invidious in the past? If so, what do you plan to do now? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Google

You will see Ads now when you pause YouTube on TV

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you use the official YouTube TV app without a premium subscription, then you are in for another ad-treat.

Google has been testing Pause-Ads on YouTube since April of this year. These ads show up when you hit the pause button, e.g., to get something to drink or go to the bathroom.

Now, pausing will show an ad on the screen for more users. The following happens when you pause the video while using the official YouTube TV app.

  • YouTube pauses and shrinks the video that is playing so that it occupies roughly two-thirds of the screen.
  • An ad is loaded and shown to the right of it.
  • YouTube displays a dismiss button and an info button next to the ad.

YouTube user RoÆther posted a screenshot of the experience on X:

There is also a report on 9to5 Google that shows another photo and a different ad.

There are other reasons for hitting that pause button. Maybe you would like to share your thoughts with someone else in the room, answer a phone call, or think about what you just saw.

Whenever you do, you will see an advertisement on the screen. Is it a disruptive experience? I’d say it is, as it changes the interface and displays new buttons on the screen. The ads do look static for now, though.

Reports suggest that Google is rolling out the change to more users.

YouTube is not the only platform that pause ads are making an appearance on. More and more ad-financed services may introduce pause ads to increase revenue generation.

As always, users have a few options to deal with ads on the platform:

  • Subscribe to YouTube Premium, which offers an ad-free experience.
  • Use a third-party YouTube app.
  • Stream content from a PC with a content-blocker.
  • Use a VPN connection to a country that does not have ads on YouTube.

Note: another interesting option is to search for the video on Bing Video. You may watch the video there without ads.

All in all, it is clear that ad-powered services are going to push ads harder and harder on YouTube. Google has been testing unskippable ads for instance, which make the experience even worse.

What is your take on pause ads? Would you mind, or is this something that you do not care about at all? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Disney+

Like Clockwork: Disney+ is getting another price increase

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Disney just announced that it will increase the price of Disney+ in the United States again. The company will charge $15.99 per month from October 2024 onward.

Here are the details:

  • Disney+ with ads: price increases from $7.99 to $9.99 per month.
  • Disney+ ad-free: price increases from $13.99 to $15.99 per month. The yearly price increases to $159.99.

Disney has more than doubled the price of its ad-free plan since its launch in 2019. Back then, customers paid $6.99 per month for the ad-free experience.

Disney-owned Hulu and ESPN are also increasing the price of subscriptions:

  • Hulu with ads: from $7.99 to $9.99
  • Hulu without ads: from $17.99 to $18.99
  • ESPN+ with ads: from $7.99 to $9.99
  • ESPN without ads: from $10.99 to $11.99

The Hollywood Reporter speculates that Disney wants to push more customers to a Disney Bundle subscription. It includes the ad-powered Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions for $10.99.

Considering that both Disney+ and Hulu cost $9.99 with ads already, it is “just” $1 extra to get both services. At least, until the next price increase that is.

Disney has not announced price increases for other regions. It is probably only a matter of time before it will announce those.

Expect more price increases from (most) major streaming providers in the coming 12 months.

Closing Words

Streaming services increase prices regularly, and it seems to work. Netflix is gaining subscribers, even though it has increased the price of its subscriptions several times in recent time.

There are only three options available to break this cycle:

  • Subscription-hopping – subscribe for a month or two, watch everything, unsubscribe. Never have more than one active subscription.
  • Buying physical – you may miss out on some shows, but what you buy is yours forever. Also option to sell again or buy used.
  • Don’t subscribe and do not buy media — Might work for some as well.

Are you subscribed to streaming services? If so, to which and why? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Amazon

5 tips to survive Prime Day without going bankrupt

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Amazon’s Prime Day is a major shopping event. Even if you are not an Amazon customer, you may notice that another Prime Day is about to happen when all of your favorite sites suddenly start to list deals.

While it may be tempting to shop at Amazon during Prime Day, it is usually better to play it cool and not fall into the trap of overspending on items that you may not even need or are not the best choice.

Here are five tips.

Tip 1: Prime Day does not mean you get the best price

While news outlets and sites try to paint Prime Day in the best light possible, it is always a good idea to compare the price on Amazon with other marketplaces.

Sites like Idealo or Google Shopping help finding the best price for most products. Other options include searching for the product name using your favorite search engine or searching for items on marketplaces like eBay.

Tip 2: Make a list of what you need before Prime Day

Visiting the Amazon website or app on Prime Day is like being a kid in a candy store. Products with discounts are shown left and right, and it is easy enough to get distracted and add items to the shopping cart because they are discounted, and not because you may need them.

It is a good idea to create a list of items that you need or want to buy prior to big shopping events. I have a list of about 15 items that I would buy during Prime Day, Black Friday, or other shopping events, provided that the price is right.

Yes, that sounds like a lot of stuff, but many are replacements for items that need replacing in the coming months or the next year.

Tip 3: Do not overspend

Regardless of whether you have created a list of articles or not, it is a good idea to set a budget for Prime Day. It is quite easy to overspend during major shopping events.

Before, during, and after you add items to your shopping cart, you will see promotions or other items. It is often just a click or two to add these to the cart as well.

Even if you stick to the plan, you may overspend. Either, because you did not compare prices, or because you opted for something more expensive. Why not buy the phone with more storage, the slightly larger TV, or the video card that promises more frames? Because you may overspend in that case.

Tip 4: Do not rush yourself

Many offers may be limited. Amazon may not have endless stock of an item, and when it is gone, it is gone. While that speaks for rushing and buying immediately, rushing also means that you may not compare prices or may buy items that you do not really need, but fear missing out on.

Even if an item sells out quickly, you may still be able to purchase it at a later point in time. Black Friday is just around the corner, and so are the dozen or so other “sales” that happen regularly online.

Tip 5: Do not browse randomly

It can be tempting to check out a few categories. If you like to play Switch or PlayStation games, you may be tempted to browse deals in those categories.

Browsing may lead to buying items that you did not have any intention of buying. This may lead to overspending and you ending up with items that you may not have researched properly before buying them.

What about you? Do you buy items regularly on major shopping events such as Prime Day or Black Friday?

youtube

Error 403: Google change causes playback issues for third-party Youtube apps

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you use an app like SmartTube or NewPipe, you may have received error 403 messages when trying to play videos on YouTube recently.

This happened to me on two occasions in the past days. SmartTube was the app that I used on Amazon’s Fire TV Stick. I could browse YouTube and run searches, but any video that I tried to play returned a 403 error.

Note: An update fixed the issue on my end. Maybe this is also working on your end to get the issue resolved.

Whenever something like this happens, it is likely that Google-owned YouTube has made a change. Whether it is a deliberate change to torpedo adblockers or third-party YouTube apps, or something unintentional is not always clear right away.

This time, it appears, that Google seems to have made a change to block bots from accessing its videos. The information comes from the developer of NewPipe, who published details on Reddit.

Here is the summary:

  • YouTube has been testing an anti-bot check on streaming URLs from its HTML5 clients for at least a few weeks.
  • This added a new URL query parameter, which in turn caused invalid responses “after some time”.

The developer claims that the anti-bot check is “hard to implement” and that it “requires a full browser environment”.

Google furthermore has started to require the parameter on YouTube, which also resulted in 403 responses. Last but not least, Google rolled out a new JavaScript player, which turned out to be another cause for the experienced issue.

The developer’s analysis suggests that the changes that Google made this time may not have been aimed directly at users of third-party apps.

YouTube’s terms of service state that third-party apps may not block advertisement on the platform. It is likely that Google will continue its fight against content blocking and third-party apps that block ads. This time, it appears that it was likely just a side-effect.

The big question: if you could watch YouTube only with ads, would you? Would you pay for YouTube Premium to get rid of them?

Amazon displays more ads on its Fire TV platform

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

One of the things that I really, really dislike when it comes to watching media is ads. Unfortunately, it appears that the trend is more ads, not less.

This does not happen only in streaming. Microsoft, for example, is pushing ads like there is no tomorrow in Windows.

Streaming, however, seems to be inclined to become the new cable TV, the very thing it set out to replace when it started.

Now it is Amazon again that is pushing the boundaries on its Fire TV platform. After enabling full screen video ads on the platform some time ago, it is now rolling out screensaver ads.

Tip: you can block fullscreen video ads on Amazon Fire TV.

Amazon may display a screensaver after some time of inactivity on part of the user. The change runs a full-screen ad for 30 to 60 seconds before the screensaver is started.

Cord Cutter News reports that the change is rolling out to all recent Fire TV products. The ads show up after a certain amount of inactivity. Amazon shows a full screen video ad then that runs for up to a minute.

Cord Cutter News saw ads for AT&T and Easy Spirit footwear so far. This change appears limited to Fire TV devices in the United States for now. It is probably only a matter of time before it lands in other regions as well.

Closing Words

It will become harder and harder to find streaming TV sticks and devices that do not push advertisement to the screen. There is also a trend towards ad-powered plans. While these are optional for the most part right now, it is clear that the current trend is more ads and not less.

Netflix is cancelling Basic plan subscriptions and pressuring subscribers

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Netflix customers who still have a Basic subscription will soon receive word from the company about it. Basic is going away. Netflix began by pulling the plan from its website and apps.

New users could not sign-up anymore for the plan, but the company did not touch existing subscriptions.

Now, it is targeting these subscribers.

The message is clear: Basic is going away, and you have to subscribe to another plan if you want to continue watching content on Netflix.

Basic subscribers have three options basically:

  • Subscribe to the Standard plan. It is more expensive, at $15.49 compared to $9.99 in the United States, but it offers additional features as well. This includes watching Netflix on up to 2 supported devices at a time, Full HD resolution support, and an option to add one extra member.
  • Subscribe to Standard with ads. Much cheaper, at $6.99 in the United States. Downside is that it includes ads that you need to endure.
  • Do nothing and stop using Netflix.

Netflix’s shows cancellation message to Basic subscribers

The first batch of Basic plan subscribers appear to have received notifications by Netflix about the upcoming end of their plan.

The message is displayed in fullscreen on the device. It says:

Your last day to watch Netflix is “DATE”.

Choose a new plan to keep watching.

Your Basic plan has been discontinued, but you can easily switch to a new one. Plans start at “MONEY” with upgraded features.

Reports claim that Netflix won’t open anymore unless users select a new plan, even if the planned cancellation date is in the future.

Why is Netflix discontinuing the Basic plan? The most likely answer is money. Users who switch to Standard pay more directly. Netflix revealed some time ago that Standard with ads is generating more money than the Basic plan.

Also, development and engineering has one less plan to worry about, which may streamline things further.

While Netflix may loose subscribers, it seems likely that a good percentage will switch to a different plan. Netflix will monitor the response in the countries that it launched the change in.

My advise continues to be the same: do some subscription hopping. Subscribe for one service for one or two months, then cancel and subscribe to another. This way, you do not really miss out on anything without breaking the bank. I expect the next round of price raises is not far away.

What about you? Do you have a Netflix or other streaming service subscription?

Netflix

Netflix considering free ad-driven plan in some countries

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Streaming, which once set out to replace classic TV, is slowly but steadily turning into the very thing it set out to replace.

Those who still do not believe it may have a change of heart when they hear this: Netflix is apparently considering launching a free plan in some countries.

The plan will be ad-powered, which means that users will see advertisement whenever they tune in.

Depending on the country, this plan is going to make the ad-powered plan even cheaper. It is unclear at this point whether it will replace the Standard with Ads plan that Netflix currently offers, or if subscribers will have to sit through more ads to make up for the difference, or get another disadvantage.

Netflix’s motivation behind this is to get more customers in countries with potential for that. This is also the reason why it won’t offer the free plan in the United States.

The company hopes that this new plan will fuel further growth, which will make shareholders happy. It also needs to push ads to reach critical mass.

Considering that Netflix is a first-mover, it is possible that the likes of Disney, Warner, or Paramount will also switch to offering a free ad-driven plan. They followed Netflix’s introduction of an ad-drive plan and its fight against password sharing already.

Classic TV is abysmal because of ads

I have to admit that I do not watch a lot of TV or streams. While I tune in to watch movies or shows, this usually happens using streaming services.

I suffer through the rare occasions when I watch classic TV. Maybe it is a game that is only shown there, or something else that is exclusive. The sheer number of ads makes my stomach turn.

Ads at streaming services, including YouTube, may add another dimension to the experience. Most add tracking, which means that you not only lose minutes of your life each hour media is consumed, you are also tracked while suffering.

There is a reason why I prefer buying movies or TV shows on disc when I like them. These do not have ads and I can watch them whenever I want, even when I sit in a cabin in a remote part of Canada.

Closing Words

It is almost certain that an upcoming free Netflix plan will attract lots of users. The exact nature of it is unknown at this point, and it remains to be seen how Netflix plans to release it in the markets it is aiming for.

It could be an interesting option for users who are interested in just a few shows. They could join up and watch these without paying anything. Well, other than with their data and time, that is.

What about you? Would you sign-up for a free Netflix plan, if it would become available in your country?

YouTube

Google announces new YouTube Premium features and hints at new plans

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

The official way to watch YouTube videos without advertisement is YouTube Premium. The subscription-based service costs $13.99 per month in the United States if you sign up for a regular plan. If you pay annually, that price drops to about $11.66 per month. Students get it for $7.99 and there is also a Family plan for $22.99.

Google has made an announcement on its official support website recently. The company listed new YouTube Premium features and also hinted at the introduction of new plans.

Here are the new features:

  • Jump Ahead feature on mobile to skip ahead. This is done with a double-tap and only available for Android at the time. Apple iOS support is coming “in the future” according to Google.
  • Shorts Picture-in-Picture to watch Shorts while using other apps. Android exclusive.
  • Smart Downloads to download “recommended Shorts automatically” to the device (experimental).
  • Redesigned Watch Patch (experimental).

Most of the features are limited to mobile devices. Furthermore, some of them, especially the redesigned watch patch, are almost universally disliked by the community.

Google hints at new YouTube plans

More interesting than these features is Google’s announcement that it plans to expand “existing offers to more regions” and introduce “new plans” in the future as well.

Could it be that Google finally realized that the price of a YouTube Premium subscription is high if it is just used to watch content without advertisement?

YouTube Premium Lite appears to be a thing still, albeit heavily limited. It dropped the price of a subscription to about $6, but did not remove all ads on YouTube and did not provide access to YouTube Music or downloads.

Closing Words

While there are ways to watch YouTube videos without ads, I have to admit that I would be fine with paying a monthly fee for that. YouTube’s current premium pricing is over my monthly limit though. I do not use the service enough to justify the expense.

If YouTube’s upcoming plan or plans become reality, and if they are below my personal limit, then I’d certainly consider subscribing. In case you are wondering, my limit is $5 per month, preferably less than that if paid yearly.

What about you? Would you pay for YouTube Premium?